North Korea, the world’s last great master of Cold War-era spectacle, is likely to deliver a big one when its ruling party holds its first congress in 36 years later this week.
But some experts speculate that the strange behavior of ruler Kim Jong Un could be a signal that he’s trying to consolidate power.
What exactly is in store during the congress, which opens Friday and will be presided over by Mr. Kim, remains a well-kept secret. But North Korea’s claims they’re becoming a truly credible nuclear power are sure to be touted along with claims of economic advances in the face of the toughest global sanctions it has been hit with in decades.
On Monday, The Horn News reported that the madman’s recent military missteps could cost him the total fear he needs to exert control over the country.
So it seems Pyongyang is desperate to have the event grab headlines around the world and show off North Korean power.
The normally well-sealed country has invited a horde of journalists from around the world to give the congress an international spotlight. The North has been promoting it relentlessly for months in its own state media and is vowing to make it a showcase of socialist success — both on the military and economic fronts.
The Rodong Sinmun, mouthpiece of the ruling Workers Party of Korea, said in an editorial Saturday that since the last congress in 1980, North Korea “proudly joined the ranks of advanced nuclear and space powers while demonstrating the might of the invincible politico-ideological, military and youth power and is now dashing ahead toward to a socialist economic power and highly civilized nation.”
But while the congress promises to be a big moment in front of foreign cameras for Kim, who has yet to venture abroad or meet with any world leaders, its larger significance may be domestic.
Delegates for the congress will be brought in from all over the country for the political theater aspect of the event. They will likely generate a seemingly endless series of speeches hailing the party and its accomplishments, and will be tasked with formally appointing members of some key leadership committees. That will provide Kim the chance to get their formal stamp of approval on the lineup of lieutenants he has almost certainly already decided upon.
The North has worked hard over the past several months to keep the event foremost in the minds of the nation.
Even more so than usual, Pyongyang has been decked out with new posters, placards and decorations along its streets paying homage to the “motherly party” and the “party of victors.”
A 70-day “loyalty campaign” was held in which North Koreans from all walks of life were called on to demonstrate their devotion to the regime by boosting productivity and joining in ideologically charged group events.
The campaign ended on Monday, but masses of Pyongyang citizens are still practicing in squares across the city for rallies to mark the congress, another typical way for the government to mobilize carefully orchestrated and highly photogenic shows of popular support and national unity.
Internationally, Kim has already gotten a lot of coverage lately as the North’s propaganda machine churned out a heightened barrage of bluster and threats as the U.S. and South Korea massed for annual joint military exercises just south of the Demilitarized Zone. The war games, the biggest ever, followed North Korea’s latest nuclear test in January and a consequent new round of U.N. sanctions.
Much of the North’s verbal attacks were what Pyongyang watchers have come to expect every spring when the exercises are underway. But some of the propaganda, including photo ops with Kim standing beside a small nuclear warhead mock-up and gleefully watching missiles being launched from submarines, has prompted foreign military analysts to wonder if the North has made more progress with its nuclear and missile capabilities than previously thought.
South Korea, meanwhile, has warned another nuclear test may be in the offing, though open-source satellite imagery is inconclusive and Seoul’s predictions are often wrong.
Details about the congress, the seventh in North Korean history, are frustratingly few.
The last congress in 1980 lasted four days and was held in the ornate February 8 House of Culture, now called the April 25 House of Culture, both dates referring to North Korean military anniversaries.
More than 3,000 delegates attended. Representatives from friendly parties abroad were also invited.
The House of Culture now appears to be under construction, suggesting it is either being prepared for the convention or that the venue might be moved elsewhere this year.
The last congress opened with a speech by North Korea’s founder an “eternal president,” Kim Il Sung, and was used primarily to install his son, Kim Jong Il, as the next in line to rule. That succession didn’t actually take place until the elder Kim’s death in 1994, though Kim Jong Il had a primary position under his father in running the country.
Unlike his famously reticent father — Kim Jong Il almost never spoke in public — Kim Jong Un is expected to address the congress as his grandfather did.
While nothing as monumental as the 1980 succession announcement is expected at this congress, North Korean officials have told The Associated Press that a key issue will be improving the living standards of the nation, a promise Kim Jong Un has made repeatedly since he took power upon the death of Kim Jong Il in 2011.
“The real source of power in our country isn’t nuclear weapons or any other military means, but the single-minded unity of the people and the leader,” Foreign Minister Ri Su Yong told the AP in an interview last week. “And this power of unity we have is the real source of power that leads our country into victory.”
The Associated Press contributed to this article
Whatever!…yeah, unity…that’s one word to describe TYRANNY!!!
Insanity runs in the Un family. And apparently the rest of the people in this country. Why wouldn’t they fight for their country instead of letting him live in the lap of luxury and slowly kill them off.
I ask the same question of the organized crime that controls this country. They control our schools; control our doctors; and strong arm our money and use it to control us.
Except in this country it is the political establishment.
You said a mouthful! It’s time here to act! Call in Roto rooter and no more Bull coming from the bureaucracy .from the school board to Congress.Vote Trump????????????????????????????????????????
TRUMP 2016!!!!!!! TRUMP 2016 !!!!! TRUMP/ SESSION2016 TRUMP/SESSION 2016!!!!!
You said a mouthful! It’s time here to act! Call in Roto rooter and no more Bull coming from the bureaucracy .from the school board to Congress.Vote Trump????????????????????????????????????????
You said a mouthful! It’s time here to act! Call in Roto rooter and no more Bull coming from the bureaucracy .from the school board to Congress.Vote Trump????????????????????????????????????????
guess you normally need to be brain dead to post on here. comparing the USA to North Korea, what total jerks
I agree with every word of your statement. And ,we, the people ,what we can do apart of revolution ?
Nailed it. The key word is Control and with The Donald’s victory in Indiana and Cruz’s withdrawing from the race, the elite in the Republican CABAL are having dysentery of the mouth because someone may just upset their playhouse. If these so called Americans hold their Party Purity ( by their standards) above the saving of the Republic then I invite them to join the Socialist Democrats and Prove their ignorance. BTW another thing that gets my dander up is Politicians referring to America as a Democracy. I must have slept thru that period of history when we abandoned the Constitutional Republic concept outlined in our founding documents.
AMEN! THANK YOU CARL!
CARL:
Dictatorship naturally arises out of democracy, and
the most aggravated form of tyranny and slavery out
of the most extreme liberty. (PLATO)
This is what ultimately happens to a citizenry under socialism. First they are treated and brainwashed. for a generation or 2, as a collective and not as individuals. All personal benefits come from the state. They ate from the 21st generation slaves and don’t know it.
Eventually the out of the beurocrats comes an anointed one who is a nut case tyrant.
We got 3 nut cases running for POTUS! Can you name the 3?
Sounds like another country I can think of in the making.
Are we talking about Obama here? Or is it Hillary the other liar?
Both!
Neither, Bernie Sanders
Un treats his people like garbage, ordering them around like little toys – and demands actual worship, like he’s a godling. Those who refuse? Killed or worse, starving while being worked to death in some camp somewhere.
It is my sincere hope that he’s taken out – whether via assassin’s bullet, coup, poison, doesn’t matter.
His country – like Castro’s Cuba – is a perfect example of how a tyrannical, dictatorial State is doomed to failure, that Socialism only generates misery for most, and opulent, excessive lifestyles for those who put the boots to the poor. The socialist ideal is equality – but like Eric Arthur Blair’s “Animal Farm,” some animals are “more equal” than others.
Sanders should take this as an object lesson, but he prefers to delude himself with the “successes” of the Norwegian socialist experiments, currently tottering under the load of loafer/predatory immigrants.
Apparently, the Socialist theory is that everyone works communally, and reaps the same as everyone else who participated. This encourages slackers – and when the diligent see that the slackers will get the same that THEY get, they slack off, too…or as Frederick Bastiat put it, “Everyone wants to live at the expense of the State, but they forget that the State lives at the expense of everyone.”
He is un-human. It is totally wrong to treat people like he is doing. He does need to be taken out by any means. This Un is just one of the worst people on planet Earth. I think it would be very good to just take him and run him through what the workers have gone through and if he refuses well the next nuke test he will be the one to push the button or hold the handle down and if he lets go, well boom.; Let him see just what the people are having to put up with.
Excellent quote. About state living at expense of everyone. Plus let us not forget there are people operating the state and living off everyone. Elected officials need to think of themselves as public servants. Not elected rulers/royalty. And they are also tasked with the duty to regulate themselves, not just us, This is currently nonexistent in dear old PC DC. Collectively they have all the govt’s power and need to stop trying to homogenize the powers into the executive branch.
These poor enslaved North Koreans need to rise up and end the tyranny of this madman. Hopefully, members of the Armed Forces will begin the revolution to destroy this evil ruler and his colleagues.
From a documentary I watched, these people have been brainwashed for generations. I don’t think they would know how to function in a democratic run government. It’s sad. Hopefully the youth will overthrow the dictator soon. If anybody deserves assassination it would be Kim
we need Rambo too take him out.
Hey, Obama hasn’t let office yet!!!!!
sad, ins’t it.
Honestly, I think ‘Hell’ary Clinton and this guy are related. Both have no necks. Both wear the same dictator jackets, except, criminal Clinton’s are thousands of dollars tailored made. And they both look and act like psychopaths who are drunk on power and greed.
I just wonder if they are going to let 3/4 of their population out of prison to watch the ceremonies?
North Korea is a model for the utter failure of socialism and totalitarianism. Once the party is over, the scam is complete and the decorations are removed the people will return to their impoverished lives. North Korea is unable to feed its own people. The Kim dynasty is one of failure and oppression.
Meanwhile the rest of the world watches as Kim Jong Un’s show is only able to deceive his own subjects.
America is on the verge of extinction ???? America needs to be rescued now!! By our General and
Admirals that O B fired and we need all Patriots to come forward oh? And VOTE”
Lets hope for all those delegates that Kims pet dogs have been fed! Which is more can be said for his poor brain dead population.
to ask “Why these people don’t revolt” is a sign of someone who has no concept of what life is like under this kind of tyranny. The walls have ears, no place is safe and no one is brave enough to speak their minds, never mind try to organize a revolt! Their lives are dictated to them to the last detail; when you see the masses looking like model citizens supporting their leadership, you are actually seeing oppression at its worst…if they didn’t show up, they’d be dead. Seriously. Equal to the Nazis.
Not likeNazi’s, but Communism which is what that terd is.
China, or some one he trust, should sit down, and talk to him quietly. Let him know that their proximity to North Korea could cause a miss fire of a nuclear weapon, and could go off course, and make a nuclear yield on one of his friends. He’s playing with things that aren’t necessary, as no one wants his country. Take your money Kim, and make sure your people are eating. Oh, and lighten up before someone takes a stand, and turns your country into a glass parking lot. They would be acting in retaliation of what you caused. Once again, no one wants your country.
This is the Borg!
People ! Don`t you recall GWBush saying’ North Korea was one of our Countries` Best allies ?” Really ? I wonder if he Was looking into his eyes seeing all the way to his Soul ? GWB had a way of being So wrong about too many things. This KIM should Be sat Down and given The Facts OF Life..that no one has ever bothered to spell out to Him before. BEST He GET this “Dressing Down’ Very soon now..Or Bad things Could Occur that will Hurt HIS ? Beloved Country Quite Badly. YES, IT IS quite obvious to Everyone who even looks in that Direction..That Noth Koreas` Citizens are a Nation of very oppressed People. This “Situation’ Should NOT Be allowed to Go on Any longer. Time , with a Mindless Monster like this Kim..Can only Increase the Problems That do Exist there, already. Much Longer, only Brings more Grief and pain to the People who are being oppressed .. Sanctions Against The Country Will only Hurt Them More…
@Confoundmeonce. I though Bush called N Korea part of the axis of evil !?!
Confoundmeonce has what is known as a “memory of convenience,” applied as it best befits whatever he/she thinks of GWB. Add to that a screw loose in Confound’s brain and there you go.
MAD-MAN “BABY HUEY”. HIS PEOPLE SHOULD GO AFTER HIM FOR TREATING THEM LIKE CRAP! (OH, WE’RE GETTING THE SAME CRAP HERE FROM OBUMMER)
Any journalist or anyone else going over there is asking for trouble.
I’m surprised he is still around, he is indeed mad.
Kim Jong Un s is crazier than a bed bug ! Ugly as a baboon , and has funny haircut ! His military should turn on him knock him in the head and feed him to the hogs . Have a nice day
He is losing control and he knows it. Bye-bye fat man.
Some kind of a coup with that piglet getting offed, would be nice